The game's most-capped player said facing Brett Lee at 150 kilometres an hour on a lively deck on Queensland's tropical far north coast was a welcome opportunity for Bangladesh to discover just how many of their players were test match quality.

"There's a chance we'll bowl on that wicket. There's a bit of grass there," Waugh told a news conference on Thursday.

"We like to attack as a general rule and we've got some good bowlers. But I don't mind what we do at the toss.

"I'm not going to predict that (Bangladesh batsmen suffering injuries) but I expect us to go hard. It will be a very good test for the Bangladeshi batsmen out there.

"I think that's what they need. You want to see your players put under the most possible pressure and see who puts their hand up and see who's a test match player and who isn't a test match player."

Australia won the inaugural test between the two nations by an innings and 132 runs in Darwin last week on a slow-paced wicket, handing the Asian nation their 19th loss (plus one draw) from 20 matches since gaining test status three years ago.

Waugh won the toss and elected to field in Darwin as Australia skittled the tourists for 97 then scored 407 for seven declared.

"GREEN TOP"

Lee, one of the world's fastest bowlers, has described the Cairns wicket as a genuine "green top".

Asked about Waugh's comment that Bangladesh's players would benefit from being tested in tough conditions, coach Dav Whatmore said: "Yes I agree with that."

However, Whatmore said Bangladesh needed to be careful about assessing players on this tour, given the fact they were playing the top-ranked side.

"Our objectives are still to strive as hard as you can to show that we can get through some tough periods, to actually bat a session as individual players, those are the things," Whatmore told a news conference.

"The boys are very keen to play. You can see they are keen to show some fight and be very competitive ... I can't ask for much more than that."

Waugh continued to stress world cricket should support Bangladesh rather than criticise their performances, while sounding a warning for the tourists.

"People expect Bangladesh to improve from the first test but I expect us to improve more," Waugh said.

Australia named an unchanged side for the second test. Bangladesh are yet to finalise their team but Whatmore forecast changes.

Australia: Steve Waugh (captain), Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Darren Lehmann, Martin Love, Adam Gilchrist, Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie, Stuart MacGill, Glenn McGrath.